1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information-processing device and a removable unit and particularly relates to a battery-operated portable personal computer (PC) and a battery pack to be attached to a portable PC.
The portable PCs are equipped with various electronic components provided inside the main body parts. In order to improve functionality of the portable PCs under constraints of their external sizes, more electronic components should be assembled within a limited space inside the main body part. Accordingly, it is preferable that a structure for attaching a battery pack does not have any protruded parts extending into the space inside the main body part.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIGS. 1A, 1B and 1C are diagrams showing a battery pack attaching structure of the related art. FIG. 1A is a perspective view of a portable personal computer (PC) 10. Double-headed arrows Y1-Y2, X1-X2 and Z1-Z2 indicate depth-wise, width-wise and height-wise directions, respectively. The portable PC 10 includes a main body part 11 and a foldable liquid display part 12. A battery pack 20 is attached to the portable PC 10 by being accommodated in a battery-pack accommodating-part 13, which is a recessed part provided in the main body part 11. When the battery pack 20 is in its accommodated state, a connector 21 provided on the battery pack 20 is connected to a connector 18 provided on the main body part 11.
The battery-pack accommodating-part 13 has end walls 14 at the X1- and X2-ends thereof. As shown in FIGS. 1B and 2A, the end wall 14 is provided with a guide rail 15 and a latch hole 16.
The battery-pack 20 has end walls 22. As shown in FIGS. 1C and 2B, the end walls 22 are provided with a guide groove 23 and a latch detent 24.
The battery pack 20 is inserted into the battery-pack accommodating-part 13 in the Y1-direction with the guide grooves 23 being guided by the guide rails 15 of the battery-pack accommodating-part 13. The latch detents 24 are pressed in while guided along the guide rails 15. Thus, the battery pack 20 is accommodated in the battery-pack accommodating-part 14 and is attached to the main body part 11 with the protruded latch detents 24 being latched to the latch holes 16.
In order to prevent intrusion of any dust, box-shaped walls 17 are provided at the latch holes 16. The box-shaped walls 17 protrude inwardly toward the main body part 11.
Regarding the battery pack 20, the latch detents 24 are located at positions towards the Y1-direction from the Y1-ends of the guide grooves 23. The latch detents 24 protrude from the end walls 22 of the battery pack 20.
Since the box-shaped wall 17 protrudes inwardly toward the main body part 11, an internal space 18 in the main body part 11 is reduced by a dimension xe2x80x9caxe2x80x9d. This may give rise to a difficulty for some electronic components to be built inside the space 18.
Also, since the latch detents 24 are located at positions towards the Y1-direction from the Y1-ends of the guide grooves 23, when inserting the battery pack 20 into the battery-pack accommodating-part 13, the latch detents 24 touch the walls 14 before the guide grooves 23 accept the guide rails 15. With such a structure, the battery pack 20 is subjected to a resistance force while its position is unstable. Therefore, the position of the battery pack 20 may be displaced vertically and it becomes difficult to allow the guide rails 15 to accept the guide grooves 23. This prevents a smooth operation when starting to insert the battery pack 20 into the battery-pack accommodating-part 13.
Further, a flat bottom surface 25 of the battery pack 20 may give rise to a problem in that the fingers may slip and not be able to grip the battery pack 20 securely. Accordingly, such a flat bottom surface 25 gives rise to a difficulty in removing the battery pack 20 from the battery-pack accommodating-part 13.
Accordingly, it is a general object of the present invention to provide an information-processing device and a removable unit which can solve the problems above.
It is another and more specific object of the present invention to provide an information-processing device and a removable unit in which space required for latching mechanisms is reduced.
In order to achieve the above objects, an information-processing device includes:
a main body part having an accommodating part;
a foldable display part;
a removable unit that can be accommodated in the accommodating part, the removable unit having latch detents receivable in latch receiving parts provided on the accommodating part; and
guide grooves provided on one of the accommodating part and the removable unit and guide rails provided on the other one of the accommodating part and the removable unit. The latch receiving parts are formed on one of the guide grooves and the guide rails and have a height that is substantially equal to a height of the guide rails or a depth of the guide grooves.
With the information-processing device described above, the space required for the latching mechanism is limited to the height of the guide rail. Therefore, there is no protrusion towards the space inside the information-processing device. Therefore, an electronic component having a greater size can be incorporated in the space inside the information-processing device of the present invention as compared to the information-processing device of the related art.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide an information-processing device in which the removable unit can be removed easily.
In order to achieve the above object, the removable unit has a bulging part provided near knobs for unlatching the latch detents from the latch receiving parts.
With the information-processing device described above, when attempting to remove the removable unit from the information-processing device, it becomes easier for the user to grab the removable unit using the fingers. In other words, the force exerted by the fingers can be effectively applied to the removable unit.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an information-processing device in which the removable unit can be attached easily.
In order to achieve the above object, the latch receiving part is provided at a position along the guide rail but not at the end of the guide rail, or the latch receiving part is provided inside the guide groove.
With the information-processing device described above, when inserting the removable unit into the information-processing device, the latch detents touch the guide rails only after the guide grooves have fitted with the guide rails. Therefore, at an instant the user feels the load produced by the latch detents contacting the guide rails while inserting the removable unit into the accommodating part of the information-processing device, the guide grooves are already fitted with the guide rails and therefore the position of the removable unit is restricted. As a result, the removable unit can be smoothly accommodated in the accommodating part.